Subtotal colectomy. Worst decision of my life so far.

I had an ileus after my first surgery and was in the hospital for 9 days total. Yes, it sucks. Yes, it's uncomfortable. I also had a lot of issues with pain after my first surgery as well as a bladder infection from the catheter and they thought a minor infection somewhere near the surgical site.

I'm assuming they aren't giving you "enough" narcotics due to the issues with the ileus and trying to keep your bowels moving? If that's not the case then talk to your hospitalist/internist and insist that is being provided is not enough. You could also try talking to the head nurse on the floor. Whenever I feel like I'm not being heard I bring it up to EVERY person who comes into my room - from the nurses each shift change (even the charge nurses or whoever is responding to the call button), to the interns who come in every morning before the official rounds and every dr on each team between.

Try walking as much as you can. Force yourself. Even if it's just getting out of your bed and over to the chair across the room. It will get everything moving again.

The only other advice I can give you is hang in there. Not exactly what you want to hear, I know, but in a few weeks time you will feel like an entirely new person.

And as far as your fiancé goes tell him to get over it. This is about you right now, not him. (Unless you want your family gone too - then by all means tell them to get a hotel or something).

It will get better soon.

An Ileus is horrible. When I had mine I thought I was dying, I was bringing up a couple of litres of stomach bile a day, or at least it looked to be that much. I thought I would never feel right again. Even when I was home, every swallow of food was agony for a couple of weeks, due to the damage to my oesophagus from the acid.
It will pass and you will feel better, but unfortunately it's a matter of sweating it out for the time being.
The pain from the surgery is horrible too. I'll be going through the same again for pouch construction too, and I'm certainly not looking forward to it!

I developed a blockage immediately after my reversal surgery that required another surgery to clear. After that second surgery, I had an ilius for 2.5 weeks because my bowels were so swollen from the blockage. I've had many blockages and many NG tubes throughout my surgery journey. The pain is awful and unfortunately it is a waiting game, but it's temporary. Once your bowels start moving you will feel instantly better. Hang in there. That's all you can do.

i had an ileus with both of my surgeries, both lasted almost two weeks. yes, it's miserable and it also decreased my motivation to get up and walk (had to unhook ng tube and IV for TPN). just too much work when i was so exhausted and SO sick of that ng tube and the discomfort it caused. but eventually things resolved. i tried to minimize my use of opiates for the reasons mentioned, it slows down the gut.

if you have no contraindications, adding toradol short term might help with pain control, it worked well for me. also, there is an IV formulation of tylenol that might provide some relief without slowing down your gut even further.